At Worcester vigil against racism, a unified call for respect

Wednesday

Jul 23, 2014 at 6:00 AM

WORCESTER — At a community vigil against racism, hate and violence Tuesday in front of City Hall, speakers decried the display of a hangman's noose in a post office, and a crowd of about 200 was encouraged to sign a "Resolution of Respect."

By Steven H. Foskett Jr. TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — Lamar Watkins said shock was the best way to describe his reaction upon seeing a hangman's noose on display in an employee area when he went into the post office in the Denholm Building on June 12.

“It was very shocking, especially after I went to the person at the post office and asked if he knew what it represented,” Mr. Watkins said Tuesday after a community vigil at City Hall denouncing the incident.

What it represented to Mr. Watkins and many others in the community was a well-known symbol of the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow laws and violence against African-Americans.

Mr. Watkins, who moved to the city 6½ years ago from Westchester County, N.Y., contacted the city's NAACP chapter. The noose remained in place until June 25, when an NAACP official visited and demanded it be taken down.

Tuesday evening brought together at least 200 people, along with several local and state officials, in a show of unity across the street from the post office branch.

“I think this is great,” said Patricia Yancey, president of the Worcester Chapter of the NAACP. “You see who Worcester is; we're all out here.”

City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. said nobody in the city, or anywhere else, should go to a government building or a public place and feel threatened or intimidated. Mr. Augustus and Mayor Joseph M. Petty signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting the incident be fully investigated as a possible hate crime, and U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern signed a similar letter requesting swift action.

Ms. Yancey called for the investigation to eventually include the prosecution, to the fullest extent of the law, of those responsible. She urged those in the audience to turn their outrage into action by joining the cause of the NAACP.

Mabel Millner of the city manager's Coalition Against Bias and Hate said the city has been visible and proactive in nurturing perception of the city as an open and welcoming place. But she said incidents like the discovery of the noose at the post office show that the goal of a post-racial society remains elusive.

In fact, she said, in recent years nooses have been showing up in workplace harassment situations with alarming frequency. She suggested that a “collective fading of historical memory,” and a new sense of privilege and entitlement, are contributing factors. She said that since 2001, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has documented more than 30 cases of alleged workplace harassment involving nooses.

Mr. Petty said it is incumbent upon citizens to respond to incidents like this with compassion, and show that the city is welcoming to people of all races and ethnic backgrounds.

“It may be as simple as ignorance, or as egregious as hate,” Mr. Petty said, adding that whatever the reason, it has no place in the city.

Longtime local activist Gordon T. Davis held a sign and walked through the crowd before the speakers started. No stranger to tough conversations about race in the city over the years, Mr. Davis said he was initially puzzled by the blatant nature of the noose incident.

“At first I thought it was just a prank,” Mr. Davis said.

But after it was allowed to stay up for more than two weeks, he started to think the worst.

“Somebody was trying to send a signal,” Mr. Davis said. “It's time for us to send a signal back.”

The incident was investigated by the Office of the Inspector General, and the USPS said in an email Tuesday that the postal service “fully supports the focus on unity at (Tuesday's) rally.”

Melissa Lohnes of the USPS said in the email that “the incident that occurred at the postal office was inappropriate and insensitive.”

London Mulcahy, Northeast Region public information officer for the inspector general's office of the postal service, said the office completed its investigation and a report was sent to the appropriate agencies.

“We've forwarded it for prosecution to the United States attorney's office and they will read the report and take whatever action they deem appropriate,” she said. She declined to reveal the IG's findings. The report was also sent to the postal service, she said.

People at the vigil were encouraged to sign a “resolution of respect,” promoting a community that is inclusive and respectful to all.